Denim, Cotton, + Steel

November 17th, 2010

PUBLIC Pop-Up Shop at Gap for the Holidays

It’s no secret that the way we shop for stuff has radically changed. Credit (or blame) the web for most of the changes, but the fact is we can now shop for almost anything, anytime, anywhere in the world. Digital colossi like Amazon, Craigslist, and Groupon are a part of everyday life now. Etsy allows us to buy hand made one-of-a-kind goods with a click. Even as virtual shopping has become mainstream, there has been a bit of a renaissance in the other direction. Farmers’ Markets are everywhere. Local crafts fairs and street vendors are back in fashion. Every week there’s another lunch wagon pulling in our neighborhood offering some seriously non-digital street food. The last few years have brought wholesale changes to retail.

So it is fitting – as well as flattering – that the Gap approached us last month about putting a PUBLIC pop-up shop in their flagship store on Market Street in San Francisco. Voila. It is up and running as of last Saturday. If you are in the Bay Area, please come down and visit. As you would expect from a leading apparel retailer, the Gap has created beautiful visual displays of our bikes and gear. Even adding some special touches like iPads imbedded in the desks for ordering our products online. They have faithfully recreated our South Park vibe on the busiest street corner in San Francisco, all the way down to our low-tech sandwich boards on the sidewalk. From the second floor bay windows you can watch the flow of bicyclists riding down Market Street. It feels good, and we love being there. You can visit everyday until 9PM. Please drop by the Gap store on 890 Market near Powell St. next to the cable car turnaround.

Building partnerships and bending the rules are not new to the Gap. In 2008 they created a Colette concept store in New York. So partnering with a local company like ours is consistent with the Gap’s roots. In 1969, they began as a single store in San Francisco selling a range of local products – primarily Vinyl LPs and Levi’s. They were quirky, gutsy, and very locally minded. High quality, casual, and affordable clothing, just the kind of stuff that goes with our everyday bikes, has always been their focus. We greatly appreciate the opportunity to get our bikes – and our mission – out in front of the broader public. So thanks to Gap. We would love our steel bikes to be as popular and ubiquitous as the Gap has made denim jeans and cotton tees.

Our first shipments of our PUBLIC A7 and PUBLIC J7 bikes are arriving this week. These models were designed specifically to make a quality steel frame bikes as affordable as possible. They look great and like all of our bikes, ride like butter. And now we have a special home delivery option. They can be shipped anywhere in the US. They’re kind of a perfect holiday gift, no? Who wouldn’t want to feel like a kid again and get a bike for the holidays?

With Ready to Ride, the bicycle is shipped directly by FedEx to your home or office and arrives within 7-10 business days, depending on where you live. We build the bike for you 99% assembled with the wheels in place. All you need to do is unwrap the bike, complete a few simple assembly steps, and be riding in 20 minutes.

We’re holding a Warehouse Sale on November 20th, from 11 – 4, to make room for our new PUBLIC bikes. The Warehouse Sale at 2125 Harrison Street (at Mariposa) will include, but is not limited to, discounted seasonal inventory, over a dozen PUBLIC bikes with slight blemishes, and vintage bikes from our personal collections. We will have all our bikes available for test riding and purchase at our Warehouse Sale.